Vavá

Vavá
	Vavá in 1962
Personal information
Full name	Edvaldo Izídio Neto
Date of birth	12 November 1934
Place of birth	Recife, Brazil
Date of death	19 January 2002 (aged 67)
Position(s)	Striker (retired)
Youth career
1943–1948	América do Recife
1948–1949	Íbis
Senior career*
Years	Team
1949–1950	Sport Recife
1950–1958	Vasco da Gama
1958–1961	Atlético Madrid
1961–1964	Palmeiras
1964–1967	América
1967–1968	Toros Neza
1968–1969	San Diego Toros
1969	Portuguesa
Total
National team
1955–1964	Brazil
Teams managed
1971–1972	Córdoba
1974–1975	Córdoba
1977–1978	Granada
1984–1985	Al Rayyan
Honours
Men's Football
Representing Brazil
FIFA World Cup
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Edvaldo Izidio Neto (12 November 1934 – 19 January 2002) commonly known as Vavá, was a Brazilian footballer, who is widely considered one of the best strikers of his generation. His nickname was "Peito de Aço" (Steel Chest). He was known for his goalscoring ability, dribbling, vision, beating opponents and having explosive shots. He is regarded as one of the most legendary players of the Brazilian football history. He played as a main striker (or centre forward) for Sport Club do Recife, C.R. Vasco da Gama, S.E. Palmeiras and the Brazil national football team.

Club career[change | change source]

Vavá started his career with Sport from his home city of Recife and won the Campeonato Pernambucano in 1949 with it. In 1951 he moved to Vasco da Gama, winning the Campeonato Carioca three times, the Torneio Rio-São Paulo and the Tournoi de Paris. In 1958 he moved to Europe to play for Atlético Madrid. He returned after three seasons and then went on to play for Palmeiras from São Paulo. Palmeiras was at this time the only club that had a response against the supreme Santosand in 1963, the year Santos took the world title, he became state champion with Palmeiras. From 1964 to 1968 he played for Mexican clubs and after a short stay with the American San Diego Toros, he ended his career at Portuguesa, a smaller club from Rio de Janeiro.

International career[change | change source]

Vavá made his debut for Brazil national team in 1955, He was left out for three Copa América tournaments in 1956, 1957, 1959. He was on the side that won both the 1958 and 1962 World Cup, in which he scored 5 and 4 goals, respectively. Furthermore, he was a joint recipient of the 1962 World Cup Golden Shoe award, as one of the tournaments top scorers. He was also part of Brazil's squad for the 1952 Summer Olympics. Vavá earned 20 caps with the Brazil national football team between 1955 and 1964, scoring a total of 15 goals.^[1]

Vavá scored in the final of both 1958 (twice) and 1962 (once), thus becoming the first player to score in the final of two different world cups. To this day, only four players achieved this feat, the other three being Pelé, Paul Breitner and Zinedine Zidane.